[maemo-developers] libicd-network-wpa

[From: Javier S. Pedro]

Long story short: I'm releasing under the GPL an alpha-quality icd
network plugin which uses wpa_supplicant. Code is at
http://svn.javispedro.com/libicd-network-wpa/trunk/ .


After having bought a N810, I got hit very hard with #1635 (
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1635 , Eduroam (EAP-TTLS+PAP)
WiFi auth; apologies for my desperate message there) -- seeing it was
a "low" priority request by then, I decided I would try and fix this
by myself.
Searching through this list, I found a cx3110x patch which made it
compatible with wpa_supplicant, and some GPL-released icd headers
which made it possible to write a icd module.

What the module is doing:
- It replaces libicd-network-wlan & libicd-network-eap (I've defined a
new network_type, "WPA", whose only modules are wpa, ipv4 and ipv6) .
It does not replace wlancond though, I'm using it for powersaving.
- While searching, it initiates a wlancond-managed active ssid scan to
each of the configured networks.
- On link_up, it calls wlancond 'settings_and_connect' d-bus method to
initialize the interface and enable powersaving features.
- On post_link_up, it spawns wpa_supplicant, then uses settings from
gconf to configure it via D-Bus, then waits for it to enter state
"COMPLETED" (aka connected).
- On pre_link_down, it kills wpa_supplicant.
- On link_down, it calls wlancond's 'disconnect'.
- If It gets a "DISCONNECTED" event from wpa_supplicant, It sets up a
100 second timeout. If wpa_supplicant goes up again (roaming?) then
the timeout is removed. If it doesn't, then it tells icd to close the
connection.

How:
-Patched cx3110x. It is only partially patched so that it does still
work with libicd-network-wlan.
-Patched/"borked" wpa_supplicant. It now works with the partially
patched cx3110x, and also does active ssid scans OK.
-Patched wlancond. I needed a "I'm already reading wireless events by
myself, no need to bother me with d-bus events and no need to take
down the wireless interface for me, just set powersave" mode, which I
implemented.
- libicd-network-wpa.so .

Right now the code is on my private repository, at
http://svn.javispedro.com/libicd-network-wpa/trunk/ ,
but I might later create a garage project for it.
I'm new to Maemo (and glib, d-bus) development, with my previous
coding experience being mostly PalmOS development, so please pardon me
if my code is a mess. It was also born as (and it still mostly is) a
hack.

Now, the questions:
- Does this design seem OK to you?
- Some maemo applications seem to have WLAN_ADHOC & WLAN_INFRA
network_types hardcoded, and won't auto-download on connect event if
the current network_type is not one of those. The built-in mail
application comes to mind.
- I've yet to come with the right "rssi -> signal" formula, and I'm
having problems with the link_status callback. May I ask for better
documentation on this? I also don't understand what search_lifetime
and search_interval on network_api.h are for.

And I guess that's all I wanted to ask for. Thank you for your time.
Hope I didn't botch anything, and sorry for grammar issues.
And thanks Quim for looking at #1635 (at least Harmattan will get PAP
support out of the box!).